English

Poem – Dust Of Snow

By Robert Frost

Name – Shivam Joshi

Class/Section – 10th B
Roll Number - 27
About the Poet – Robert Frost
• Robert Frost was a famous American poet.
• He was born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874.
• He died on January 29, 1963, Boston, Massachusetts.
• His father belonged to New England, and his mother was a Scottish emigrant
from Edinburgh.
• By 1920s, Frost was the most celebrated poet in America.
• The ‘Road Not Taken’ is poet’s one of the most famous poem.
Poem -
The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

Theme of poem -
• Dust of Snow has as its main themes: communication between nature and humans.
nature healing and helping with negative human emotions. the significance of
small natural events.

• The poem expresses the significance of small things in changing one's attitude.
The poet appreciates the beauty of the snowflakes, which changed his mood and
saved many precious moments from being wasted away. The crow shakes off the
snow dust from the hemlock tree.
Summary -

• This poem tells that even a simple moment has a large impact and significance. This poem stands for guiding
a person who has lost all hopes and is very sad. The falling of dust of snow has changed the mood of the poet.
The poet has mentioned crow and hemlock tree in this poem. Crow signifies his depressive and sorrowful
mood and hemlock tree is a poisonous tree. Both of these signify that the poet was not in a good mood and so
he describes the dark, depressive and bitter side of nature to present his similar mood.

• In such a sad, depressive mood, the poet was sitting under a hemlock tree. A crow, sitting on the same tree,
shook off the dust of snow i.e., small particles of snow that remain on the surface after the snowfall, on the
poet. This simple action changed the poet’s mood. He realized that he had just wasted a part of his day
repenting and being lost in sorrow. But the change in his mood made him realize that he should utilize the rest
of the day in some useful activity. His sorrow was washed away by the light shower of snow dust. His spirit
was revived and he got ready to utilize the rest of the day constructively.
Explanation of 1st Stanza -

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

Continue :

In this stanza, the poet is talking about a winter’s day when all the tree tops were covered in masses
of snowflakes. The poet was walking under one such snow-covered tree. This was the North
American conifer, known as the hemlock, named so because its smell resembles that of the European
plant from which the poison known as hemlock was made. Hence, by virtue of its name, this tree
was not one that you could associate with anything positive. However, a crow alighted on this tree
suddenly, and because of that sudden motion, the mass of snowflakes atop it fell down on the poet
like rain. The snowflakes were so light and miniscule that the poet thought they looked like white
and immaculate dust particles (if indeed, dust particles could ever be white). This shower of
snowflakes from the hemlock tree is evidently the subject matter of this poem, since it touched the
poet in some way.
Explanation of 2nd Stanza -

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

Continue :

In this stanza, the poet explains to us exactly in what way the shower of snowflakes had an effect on
him. He says that it changed his mood. That is to say, he had been in a sullen or despairing mood,
and the snowflakes falling on him, all of a sudden, gladdened his heart. In addition to this, there was
another effect that the shower of snowflakes had on the poet. He says that, that particular day was
one that he had not been looking forward to, and in fact, it was not going too well either. He had
decided, in his mind, that that particular day would go waste. However, the shower of dust-like snow
on his shoulder changed his mind. It made him feel that the day had not been a complete waste. At
least, some part of that day had been pleasant, since it had given him a new experience that he could
treasure.
Difficult Words -

• Hemlock - a poisonous plant with small white flower; 

• Dust of snow - fine powdery snow flakes; 

• Saved some part - prevent some time from being wasted; 

• Rued - regret bitterly.

Rhyme scheme and Literacy device used :
• Rhyme Scheme – abab ; cdcd

• Alliteration has occurred - which means the occurrence of same

sound or letter at closely connected words.

‘Has given my Heart’

‘Saved Some part’
Continue -
• Inversion – when the structure of a sentence is changed by the poet
to create rhyme, this poetic license is called Inversion.
• Assonance – the prominence of a vowel sound throughout a like is
called assonance.
• Enjambment – when the same sentence continues to the next line
without use of punctuation marks, It is enjambment.
Questions -
1. Where is the poet?
2. What does the crow do?
3. What is hemlock?

4. What is the change brought about in the mood of the poet?

5. What has been ‘saved’ and by what? 

6. What is suggested by the word ‘rued’? 

7. How does the poet feel?
Answers -
1. The poet is out in the snow, beneath a hemlock tree.
2. The crow stirs the branch of the hemlock tree and a shower of powdery snow falls on the poet.
3. Hemlock is a tree.

4. The poet’s mood is uplifted and he comes out of a negative state of mind.
5. The poet’s day had been marked by negative feelings. The snow dust falling on him suddenly
brought him out of this mood and thus saved the rest of his day by making it happy and positive.

6. ‘Rued’ means to bitterly regret something. Before the snow dust fell on the poet he was in a
mood of regret.
7. The poet feels happy.
Thank You